1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to manually operated presses. More particularly, the present invention relates to a manual press capable of biasing the lid of a food can against the contents of the food can for the purpose of displacing liquid from the food can in a controlled fashion.
2. Prior Art Description
Many canned foods such as tuna, salmon, shrimp, pickled vegetables and the like are packed in liquids that must be removed from the can before the food is removed. The traditional way to remove the liquids from such cans is to open the can with a can opener, invert the can and manually press the lid of the can against the contents of the can. Such a traditional manual method has many disadvantages. First, when manually pressing a can lid against the contents of the can, the liquid in the can inevitably contacts the person's hands or arm. In such cases as canned fish, the liquid is often pungent and is difficult to wash off because the fish oils get absorbed by the skin. Another disadvantage is that once a can is opened with a can opener, the edges of both the can and the lid are very sharp. As a person manually advances the lid into the can, there exists a danger of the person cutting his/her fingers on one of these sharp edges. A similar danger occurs when a person tries to remove the lid from the can. In such a scenario, a person tries to engage the sharp edge of the lid in order to lift the lid out of the can.
Yet another disadvantage of manually pressing lids against the contents of cans is that many people are physically incapable of pressing the lid against the contents of the can with enough force to displace the unwanted liquids. As a result, people with arthritis or similar ailments cannot properly drain many canned foods.
The prior art record is replete with numerous presses for pressing fruit, garlic and other foods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,019 to Dawes, entitled COMPACT PORTABLE DISPENSING SYSTEM FOR EDIBLES SUCH AS TEA, shows a simple manually operated pressing system for compressing a wet tea bag. However, the prior art now known to the applicant does not disclose a press specifically designed to compress the lid of a food can against the contents of a food can. Presses do exist for compressing the contents of a box for packing, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 933,660 to Nelson, entitled FRUIT BOX PRESS and U.S. Pat. No. 983,391 to Naslin, entitled BOX NAILING FRUIT PRESS. However, such presses are not adaptable for use in compressing the contents of a food can because of their size, complexity and expense.
A need therefore exists in the art for a portable lightweight press specifically designed to press the lid of a food can against the contents of the can.
A need also exists for such a press that enables the liquids in a food can to drain without contacting the person using the press.
A need also exists for such a press that helps remove the lid from a can after compression, thereby eliminating the dangers of a person cutting his/her finger on the sharp edges of the can or the lid.
The above listed needs are provided for by the present invention as described below and claimed.